Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Matthew 25: 35 – 36
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
This morning’s “Letters from an American”, by Heather Cox Richardson, paints a grim picture. Texas governor, Abbott, has taken further steps to support his belief that his immigration practices override the federal immigration laws. He sent troops to the border to take over for the officers of the Border Patrol. Ordinarily, Border Patrol agents try to help migrants in distress as they cross the Rio Grande into Texas. In one incident the troops prevented agents from helping a group in trouble in the river – that resulted in the death of a woman and her two children.
I got a call at work some weeks ago from a social worker employed by the police. She had been called to the downtown bus station because a group of 35 Spanish speaking migrants had arrived on a bus from Texas. They were to be dropped off here in order to board a bus bound for Chicago. Most of them did not have the additional $78 to purchase tickets to Chicago where they had been told there would be jobs and shelter. The social worker was calling immigration law offices to ask if there was any funding available to help the migrants get to Chicago. I gave her some suggestions of where to call. I think ultimately the St Louis Metropolitan Police Department found money for this sad cause.
This last Friday, Illinois Governor, J. Pritzker issued a public letter from him to Governor Abbott. Here is a quotation from that letter: “You are now sending asylum seekers from Texas to the Upper Midwest in the middle of Winter – many without coats, without shoes to protect them from the snow – to a city whose shelters are already overfilled with migrants you sent here.” (NBC news, Chicago). This practice of bussing migrants to cities with Democratic mayors has been going on since 2022. The mayor of New York City has also prevailed on Governor Abbott to stop this practice – shelters there are overfull with individuals. It is such a problem that the mayor placed migrants in a high school gymnasium to get them away from bitter cold and storms coming this week. He has come under fire for this move.
Recently Governor Abbott was on a talk show. When asked what his approach was to the migrant crisis at his border he said, “The only thing we’re not doing is shooting people.” It’s a slide down a slippery slope to send armed troops to deflect people from crossing into the United States. When immigrants are referred to as “vermin”, and 45 says they are “poisoning the blood of this country.”, it is not impossible to consider bullets as deterrents.
There is a crisis at our Southern border. Thousands of people each day are trying to reach our soil, and resources for receiving them are limited. This is simply not sustainable. Every day at work I get calls from immigration agencies in Texas looking for legal representation for unaccompanied minors. Some have family they can be placed with, but many are here with no one who will take them in. I get calls from people wanting to file asylum cases, having left their countries under threat of death. Asylum is a human right and we are not prepared to handle the number of people seeking this relief.
Everyone gives lip service to the need to fix our broken immigration system. Money is needed to shore up Border Patrol staffing and increase the number of immigration judges and courtrooms. The current laws were written long before this surge of migrants increased to today’s levels. But any hope of immigration reform is lost in the partisan politics practiced in our very broken Congress. Politicians like Governors Abbott and DeSantis are climbing to power on the backs of innocent people for whom they have no regard. I wonder how they sleep at night. Probably very well.